During Salve this week we have been collecting some interviews regarding social media and pupils opinions and personal feelings towards it. Here are some things we heard.
Max P shared that he finds social media entertaining and helpful as it’s a way to communicate with friends and family. Max feels that without social media people would be less likely to socialise with friends as it is more difficult for them to communicate plans. Max said that there’s no negatives of social media. “Some people think scrolling is an issue but I enjoy it as you can see funny videos.’’ Max explained that he had a lot of/most of the main social media platforms. In his opinion “Anything that contains just messaging should be 10 years up, but more advanced platforms should be aged 13 up.” Max thinks that he spends roughly 3 hours a day on social media.
Noah M said that he thinks social media is a “necessity” and you can use it to find out ‘news’ and important information. He mentions it’s useful as you can play video games and have fun. He also has most forms of social media platforms. Negatives weren’t mentioned but a positive was how he can communicate with his friends. Noah assumes he spends around 5 hours a day on social media, this is mainly weekends. He thinks that the apps where you can talk to other people online should be 13+ but all/most other apps should be all ages.
Freddie H thinks that social media can have lots of advantages if you use it in the right way. He said that social media is useful as long as you use it appropriately. Depending on what social media you’re using should determine the age rating. If Freddie is just spending a day at home he spends a much larger amount of time on it than he usually would. He also spends more time scrolling during weekends than weekdays. Freddie went on to tell us that a positive of social media is that you’re able to find out more information about the world. A negative mentioned was that you could also come across inappropriate content that may affect you or not be age appropriate but you can avoid this happening by putting filters in place and having your parents or a trusted adult to monitor what you have access to.
Alfie R agrees that social media is useful and can help you communicate with others when you aren’t with them. Alfie has all the main social media platforms. He believes that messaging apps should be used by ages 13+ but appropriate games like Roblox should be all ages. He thinks he spends quite a lot of time on social media. Negatives that Alfie reiterated were that you may see or read things that you didn’t want to which could have an affect on your mental health.
Tilly says that she thinks social media is good as you can learn facts. Tilly also has the main social media platforms. She thinks that the overall age for social media should be 10-11. She spends quite a lot of time on social media as she can talk to the people she’s friends with. The last thing Tilly mentioned is that a positive is being able to get more information and learn about the world around you.
Mr Wright thinks that social media has the opportunity to be used for good but it also can be used for bad. It just depends on the person and how careful they are. He thinks that social media shouldn’t be used until the age of 18 unless you have a lot more security. Mr Wright doesn’t spend too much time on social media. He thinks that it should have curfew and time out after 2-3 hours in a day. A positive of social media is the ability to communicate with people all over the world. A negative also being that you can hide identity and make people think things are true when they aren’t.
Ultimately, there are many positives and negatives of social media. It has been really interesting to hear everyone opinions.
By Annie G & Tallulah M